Deep within the foreboding Wisconsin wilderness, where moonlight struggles against the encroaching darkness, the ominous Beast of Bray Road dwells—a nightmarish enigma that has tormented Elkhorn, Wisonsin for generations. This malevolent creature, a grotesque amalgamation of human and beast, stalks the desolate Bray Road with burning eyes that pierce the night. Tales of blood-curdling howls and gnashing fangs fuel the chilling lore surrounding this entity, whether it be a vengeful spirit or a creation of sinister forces, preying upon the unsuspecting and sowing terror under the pallid moonlight. As the boundary between legend and reality blurs, the Beast of Bray Road beckons you into a world where fear reigns supreme, and the line between the living and the damned fades into a realm of unspeakable horrors. Things are about to get strange. 

The Beast of Bray Road has been described by witnesses as a large creature, standing between 6-7 feet tall with its form, a grotesque fusion of man and beast, boasting a powerful, muscular physique. It has a body covered in gray and brown fur. It has a head resembling a wolf and has large glowing red or orange eyes. It is said that the creature runs and walks on all four, and has been seen hunched on its hind legs like a man. Its been said that it looks like a werewolf. Those who believe in him think that he only appears when he is hunting, mainly because it is usually spotted while eating or scavenging.  

The beast was first sighted in 1936. A little after midnight at St. Coletta School for Exceptional Children, Mark Shackleman arrived at work. He walked around the school grounds every night as the night watchman. The school was once a Franciscan covenant outside of Jefferson, Wisconsin. The grounds covered several old buildings, wide open fields, and an orchard. There were several preserved, old Native American burial mounds in the empty fields. Shackleman, while only working this job for a paycheck to support his family, was doing his usual rounds when all of a sudden, something looked at him and it stood up. It was over 6 feet tall. A growl echoed across the field. Shackleman smelled rotting meat. All of a sudden, the thing turned around and ran off into the woods. The following morning, Shackleman told his wife what happened, describing the creature and that its thumbs and little fingers appeared “shrivelled”, noticeably shorter than its other fingers. He returned back to the grounds during the day and discovered raking marks on the dirt on top of the mounds.  The next night, Shackleman went back to work for his usual walk around. While walking round, he saw the shadow again, digging the same mound as the previous night. It again stood up, snarling at him; its growl sounding half-human and half-beast. He didn’t move.  Shackleman prayed to God to save him. The beast turned and left. He then said a prayer of thankfulness.  Shackleman never saw it again, but never forgot what he experienced. This is the first reported sighting of the creature, and it would eventually be known as the Beast of Bray Road. Sightings became more prevalent in the 80’s and 90’s.

In the 80’s, several witnesses reported that the beast had made contact with their vehicles, leaving long scratch marks on the trunks and the doors of the vehicles. One witness stated that she hit something while driving down Bray Road. Upon exiting her car to see what she hit. She stated that a large wolf-like creature with red eyes chased her back into the car. The creature left claw marks in the rear passenger door. Sightings were also reported during the day as well. Several witnesses stated that they observed an unusually large wolf-like creature running on all fours through corn fields. Someone even stated that they saw that it was in pursuit of a deer.  One woman reported that the beast attempted to break into her home, and later injure one of her horses. She claimed that the footprints that were left by the beast were over 12 inches long. In 1999, an 18 year old was driving down Bray Road, when she said that her back tire hit something. That something lifted it off of the ground. She stopped and got out of her car to see what it was, but didn’t see anything. She then looked on the side of the road and saw a massive wolf-like creature standing on two legs. She rushed back to her car and sped away. The beast leapt onto her trunk, but slid off due to the trunk being wet from rain. One witness stated that they were driving down Bray Road late one night and observed a wolf-like creature eating an animal that had been hit by a car on the side of the road. When she came forward, several other witnesses came forward as well. There were reports of animal mutilations around Bray Road with animal remains partially eaten with specific organs removed from the animal carcasses. Many of the witnesses justify their sightings with the reports of animal mutilations in the area surrounding Bray Road. Some claim that it must be something bigger than a wild animal due to the way that the roadkill and other animals have been deconstructed. Specific organs are said to be removed from some of the carcasses. This indicates the intelligence and purpose over just simple hunger. There have also been reports of seeing the beast in February 2018 and July 2020. The reports stated that there was a large, hair covered upright creature in Lyons and Spring Prairie, both in Walworth County. 

Linda Godfrey took on the task of reaching more about the beast. She was very skeptical about there being a beast like creature in this small town. She followed several leads, including eye witness reports. She visited the Walworth County Animal Control office. There, she was able to scan a large number of reported unknown animal sightings. Most of these sightings were in a manila envelope with one word written on the front-”werewolf”. She also came across hundreds of reported sightings of big cats in the area. The Department of Natural Resources claimed that those sightings were more than improbable. They were impossible. The implications of these sightings are far-ranging. It has been 100 years since there were wildcats on Wildcat Mountain in Wisconsin, but Linda collected 150 or more reports of puma or black panthers in the area. She wrote a story for “The Weekly”, in December 1991. The story of the Beast of Bray Road spread quickly after that. She wrote, “The rumors floated around town for two years or so before I heard them. A wolfish-looking creature that ran on two legs and had been seen around the Bray Road area, stealing chickens, eating roadkills, and scaring the daylights out of locals who (sometimes literally) ran into it.” Syndicated shows quickly caught onto the story, and went out to the area to interview Godfrey about the sightings. The National Enquirer even paid Godfrey and staff photographer Terry Mayer to stake out Bray Road. This was to find any signs of the Beast. This launched a new career for Godfrey as Investigative Researcher. She authored over 20 books including novels, true crime, and cryptozoology. 

The existence of the Beast of Bray Road remains unconfirmed. Many people suggest that the creature is just a gray wolf or a large dog. While the population is small, there are wolves spotted in Walworth County. Some believe that mass hysteria or hoaxes may be to blame. Once the myth starts, people are predisposed to believe that they may see the creature as well. They will see the creature wherever they look. It eventually becomes more likely that other people will believe that they saw the beast as well. There are also theories that the beast may actually be a bear suffering from mange. Black bears live in the area and have been spotted in the area. Mange is a skin disease. It explains the werewolf-like, patchy-haired appearance. It may also explain why the creature looks skinny and has been seen eating roadkill. This is not a behavior that a bear usually has. There are no concrete theories as to what the beast is. We may never know what it is, or if it is real. But we can always wonder.